MHSAA wrestling finals: Two boys win fourth individual state titles
It’s rare to earn four individual wrestling state titles in a high school career.
Yet both Darius Marines of Novi Detroit Catholic Central and Kade Kluce of Dundee completed the feat on Saturday at Ford Field in the state individual finals before a crowd of more than 10,000.
They are just the 36th and 37th wrestlers to get four individual championships, which dates back to 1948.
When Marines won the 157-pound final in Division 1, he lifted four fingers up on both hands, then transitioned to one finger on both hands as he looked upward.
“I raised the one finger to God,” he said. “I looked up to the roof (of Ford Field) because I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be experiencing life if it weren’t for God, so I gave my thanks to the most high.
“I just told myself this was another day. I’ve trained for it and just knew I had to take care of business.”
Marines also admitted this day might not have come, the way he was handling his freshman season.
“My freshman year was a weird year,” he said. “There was COVID, and we only had half a season that went to mid-April. It was a weird and wacky season. I was able to pull through. I went from getting beat by everybody — I wasn’t even supposed to be a starter — to winning it all my freshman year.”
Marines said that he was slacking off during the pandemic pause, but he was really able to focus and turn it on once the season resumed.
“I started kicking it back up, so I would say my freshman year was my toughest title," Marines said.
“Honestly, I never thought I’d be here. There were a couple times — actually more than a handful of times — I thought I was going to quit wrestling (in elementary and middle school). So, I never really thought I’d make it this far, but now I’m here and doing an interview after a fourth state title, and it’s a blessing.”
In wrestling, an escape is worth one point, and that was the difference Kluce needed to pull off the 2-1 win in overtime, over Gladstone's Drew Hansen, for the third consecutive year.
“I really put it in my head that I need these 30 seconds (in overtime),” Kluce said after the match while gasping for air. “I need to keep him down, or I’ll be disappointed for the rest of my life if I give this up. That’s what kept me going. I feel like I’m on top of the world right now.
“What made this difficult was all the injuries I came through this season, the time I spent practicing to get ready for tournaments, getting sick the days before. This is tough.
“I like to tell myself in my head that I’m the three-time state champ. I can do this. I can do anything. No one has beaten me here, and that’s what I did.”
Lowell junior Jackson Blum, who was part of the Lowell team’s 11th consecutive team state championship last week, earned his third individual state title to set up a possible fourth next year. He beat DeWitt junior Trenden Bashore with a fall at 4:54.
“I try not to think about it,” Blum said about his state title streak. “I trust how hard I train, how hard I work and practice that a state championship is going to come with it if I keep putting in that work. And that’s what happened.
“I just try to stay positive all season, not to think about the end too much, but it is in the back of my mind, that I want to get it. Everyone wants to get there, and a few do, but it’s about believing in yourself, knowing that if you put the work in and trust in God ... and trust in my training, my coaches, my family, and let it all come.”
Two seniors at 144 pounds ended their high school careers with three state titles: Justin Gates of Davison in Division 1 over his teammate, junior Tanner McDunnah; and Hudson's Coy Perry in Division 4, also at 144.
Perry defeated sophomore Blake Sloan of Manchester, 1-0, for his third and final state championship. Perry gave a lot of credit to the adversity he and his “brother battled through with the transition from my sophomore year to my junior year. Hudson changed my life (after moving from Clinton),” he said.
“The worst part of this (today’s win) is over a kid that was in Clinton, too. He’s one of my best friends on the wrestling mat, and this sucks so bad that I had to wrestle him right there. But he’s going to get one. He’s probably one of the best 144-pounders in the state right now. He’ll get one.”
Girls championships
Competing in the MHSAA finals for the third time at Ford Field, Brighton's Sabrina Nauss got her third state title, fourth overall when counting the coaches’ association tournament in 2021. At 190 pounds, she pinned Gabriella Allen of Marcelus, in 1:35, her same championship match opponent as the year before. Nauss has the distinction of being the first girls champion at Ford Field, when her weight class wrestled first in the 2022 event.
“Just a lot of emotions right now,” Nauss said soon after the match. “I’m excited for what’s to come next but I’m also sad for what I’m leaving behind. I’m excited for the future, I’m excited for college.
“I just wanted to come in a get the job done,” she said about her opening strategy. “I’ve said before this is kind of like a business trip for me. This is my job, so when I come in I want to come in hard. I’m trying to get the first takedown and to try and score the most points, so getting a pin was my ideal for finishing the job.”
Nauss was asked how much she thinks about her first win in downtown Detroit.
“It is exciting to see how far things have come, and how many more girls are here this year compared to my first year. Now having our state championships (at Ford Field) is just crazy. I’m excited to see it grow and to see it grow continuously. I’m excited to celebrate this (win) but I’ve got more goals coming up. My goal is to go win my fifth national title this year.”
Angelina Pena, a Milan senior, also got her third individual state title, and second in the 130-pound weight class, despite working through a dislocated shoulder under the heavy brace she wore.
“I’d say it is similar in that I won and I hold the same amount of respect for all my opponents,” Pena said. “I think it’s different because it gets harder every year. All the girls are getting better. They are training all year, and you just have to keep training and putting in more work than they are.”
She goes to the middle school for their wrestling clinics and the more times she goes, she sees more girls attending.
“It’s really nice to be a mentor. I think (girls wrestling) is just going to keep going up from here, exponentially. You’re seeing a giant increase in the amount of girls enjoying wrestling and getting to Ford Field.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA wrestling finals: Two boys win fourth individual state titles
